Poor Little Albino Plants

1012008

When thinking of albinos, the plant kingdom is oft overlooked. Certainly, this makes sense as a chlorophyll-less plant is largely doomed, but that is not to say that such plants do not exist. The American Brugmansia and Datura Society reports that in the attempts to create new variegated cross hybrids of Brugmansia, a full 90% of all seedlings (like the one to the left) are pigment-less albinos that die soon after their endospermic nutrition is exhausted.

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Wow! With so less green in the plant I am impressed that you can make it grow to that size. I attampted to grow out seeds of ‘B. aurea x B. ‘Maja’ (variegated) and the albinos died, before they had developed true leaves.

Whiter Shade of Tail

Back in the '90s I discovered a partially albinistic robin in a nearby park. I was much impressed. Though, after I marched all my biology classes the three-quarters of mile to the area to show them the lingering bird, they were not so impressed.
Scott Maruna is a high school science teacher and author from west central Illinois with a fascination in all forms of anomalous natural history. He may be contacted at hissingcockroaches (at) yahoo.com.